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Finding passion and courage in everything you do

Kristin Groos Richmond, a Boston College alumna, was the 2018 Brennan Symposium speaker. Richmond is the CEO and co-founder of , a B Corp company that was inspired by her time spent in Nairobi, Kenya, as co-founder of the Kenya Community Center for Learning. Post-college, Richmond worked on Wall Street with CitiBank, and with her wide array of experiences in the workforce, was able to talk about her journey from founding Revolution Foods to how the company has grown since then. According to Richmond, Revolution Foods is a mission-driven company, and 鈥渙ur values give us value.鈥� That being said, Revolution Foods has expanded exponentially with her hard work and determination, now serving over 2.5 million meals a week, including to Boston Public Schools, and is the second-largest job creator for people living in inner cities. Richmond stressed the importance of loving the work that you do and finding meaningful work.

Richmond鈥檚 talk really centered around a robust question-and-answer session in which she encouraged students to ask about 鈥渓iterally anything.鈥� Within this period, Richmond told them that today is the best time to be graduating from college, and to pursue entrepreneurship because there is currently 鈥渕ore capital than there is deal flow.鈥� Additionally, she emphasized that she and others in the field of entrepreneurship are working to 鈥渃hange systems in America,鈥� and that we all have the ability to do so as well. One of the main things that Richmond continually referred to throughout the talk was her access to education and how lucky she was to be able to pursue higher learning in order to help others. Her desire to give the gift of education was primarily why she was able to address the lack of nutritious meals in American schools. This is something that she also attributed to her time spent at Boston College, where her love for service began. In closing, Richmond encouraged everyone in the audience to find their passion and be courageous in their endeavors, because each of us has the ability to make a difference.

Michaela Arguin 鈥�20, Winston Ambassador